The Qur’anic Root R D D

1. The semantic core in early Arabic: turning something back

The root’s clearest image is simple: something has moved away from a place, direction, or condition and is turned back again.

A poem by Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā contains:

رَدَّ القِيانُ جِمالَ الحَيِّ فاحتملوا
إلى الظَّهيرةِ أمرٌ بينهم لَبِكُ

Radda l-qiyānu jimāla l-ḥayyi fa-ḥtamalū / Ilā ẓ-ẓahīrati amrun baynahum labiku.

“The serving women brought back the tribe’s camels, and they loaded up to depart by midday; their affair was tangled among them.”

The serving women or attendants brought back the tribe’s camels so that their loads could be placed upon them and the migration could continue. Lisān al-ʿArab also cites this verse for radd, explaining it as bringing the camels back to the people.

Elsewhere, the same poem says:

فَارْتَدُّوا لِمَا تَرَكُوا

Fa-rtaddū li-mā tarakū.

That is, they returned to what they had left. This witness matters because it shows that irtadda was an ordinary Arabic verb for returning before later religious terminology.

The starting point of this family is therefore neither rejecting an opinion nor abandoning a religion. Its older core is returning and bringing back.

2. رَدَّ (radda): returning a person or thing

One of the most direct uses occurs in the account of Joseph:

وَجَدُوا بِضَاعَتَهُمْ رُدَّتْ إِلَيْهِمْ

Wajadū biḍāʿatahum ruddat ilayhim.

“They found that their goods had been returned to them.”

Yusuf 12:65

A few words later, they themselves say:

هَٰذِهِ بِضَاعَتُنَا رُدَّتْ إِلَيْنَا

Hādhihi biḍāʿatunā ruddat ilaynā.

“These are our goods, returned to us.”

There is no sense here of rejection as refusal to accept. The goods have been returned to their owners.

The same meaning appears in the account of Moses:

فَرَدَدْنَاهُ إِلَىٰ أُمِّهِ

Fa-radadnāhu ilā ummihi.

“So We returned him to his mother.”

Al-Qasas 28:13

Here too, radd is the movement of someone or something toward a point with which they had a previous connection.

Even responding to a greeting is expressed through this verb:

أَوْ رُدُّوهَا

Aw ruddūhā.

“Or return it.”

An-Nisa 4:86

That is, return the greeting: a reciprocal response to something received from another.

Radd can therefore return an object, person, statement, or action in the opposite direction.

3. رَدَّ إِلَى (radda ilā): referring a matter back to an authority

This image extends beyond bodily movement.

An-Nisa 4:59 says:

فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ

Fa-in tanāzaʿtum fī shayʾin fa-ruddūhu ilā llāhi wa-r-rasūli.

“If you disagree over something, refer it back to The God and the Messenger.”

And several verses later:

وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَإِلَىٰ أُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ

Wa-law raddūhu ilā r-rasūli wa-ilā ulī l-amri minhum.

“Had they referred it back to the Messenger and to those entrusted with authority among them.”

An-Nisa 4:83

Here a disputed matter or report is referred back to an authority so that judgment or inference proceeds on that basis. “Refer” is a natural English rendering, but the Arabic image remains that of returning a matter to its authority.

Fussilat 41:47 uses the same construction concerning knowledge of the Hour:

إِلَيْهِ يُرَدُّ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ

Ilayhi yuraddu ʿilmu s-sāʿati.

“To Him is knowledge of the Hour referred back.”

This return should not be understood bodily. The subject is the ultimate authority for knowledge. Thus رد إلى الله (radd ilā Allāh) does not itself establish spatial movement toward The God; the kind of return is determined by the object and context.

4. From returning to refusing and repelling

In Arabic, something a person does not accept is sent back to its owner or in the opposite direction. From this, radd can take on the meaning of refusal.

Lisān al-ʿArab explicitly says:

وَرَدَّ عَلَيْهِ الشَّيْءَ إِذَا لَمْ يَقْبَلْهُ (wa-radda ʿalayhi al-shayʾa idhā lam yaqbalhu)

That is, he returned the thing to him when he did not accept it.

The same core naturally applies to repelling: something is approaching, and a force turns it back.

The Qur’an says:

وَلَا يُرَدُّ بَأْسُهُ عَنِ الْقَوْمِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

Wa-lā yuraddu baʾsuhu ʿani l-qawmi l-mujrimīna.

“And His might cannot be turned away from the offending people.”

Al-Anam 6:147

And:

وَلَا يُرَدُّ بَأْسُنَا عَنِ الْقَوْمِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

Wa-lā yuraddu baʾsunā ʿani l-qawmi l-mujrimīna.

“And Our might cannot be turned away from the offending people.”

Yusuf 12:110

رد بأس (radd baʾs) means turning back and repelling that might from its course of arrival.

Yunus 10:107 also says:

فَلَا رَادَّ لِفَضْلِهِ

Fa-lā rādda li-faḍlihi.

“Then none can turn back His bounty.”

In Hud 11:76, punishment is:

غَيْرُ مَرْدُودٍ

Ghayru mardūdin.

“Not to be turned back.”

That is, punishment that will not be turned back or repelled.

Repelling, holding back, and refusing are therefore not unrelated independent branches: in each, something is turned back from its course.

5. A disputed verse: فَرَدُّوا أَيْدِيَهُمْ فِي أَفْوَاهِهِمْ (fa-raddū aydiyahum fī afwāhihim)

Ibrahim 14:9 says:

فَرَدُّوا أَيْدِيَهُمْ فِي أَفْوَاهِهِمْ

Fa-raddū aydiyahum fī afwāhihim.

“Then they returned their hands into their mouths.”

The precise interpretation of this sentence has long been disputed.

Ibn Masʿūd is reported to have understood it as their putting their hands into their mouths and biting them in anger. Ibn ʿAbbās is reported to have understood it as returning their hands to their mouths in amazement. Mujāhid and Qatādah understood it in the direction of rejecting the Messengers’ words and verbally denying them. Other views are also reported.

The root ر د د (R D D) alone does not resolve this disagreement. All readings involve some kind of turning back or reciprocal response, but the root itself cannot establish whether أيدي (aydī) means bodily hands, figuratively refers to favors, or belongs to a construction describing rejection of speech.

The translation of this verse, based merely on one later interpretation, should therefore not become the general definition of radd.

6. Returning to an earlier state or condition

Radd does not always mean returning to a previous place. Sometimes a person or thing is returned to an earlier condition or one resembling it.

An-Nahl 16:70 says:

وَمِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰ أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ

Wa-minkum man yuraddu ilā ardhali l-ʿumuri.

“And among you is one who is returned to the most diminished stage of life.”

Al-Hajj 22:5 repeats the same construction.

A person is returned to أرذل العمر (ardhal al-ʿumur). This does not mean time physically reversing, but reentering a condition of weakness and losing some abilities acquired after childhood.

Yusuf 12:96 also says concerning Jacob’s sight:

فَارْتَدَّ بَصِيرًا

Fa-rtadda baṣīran.

“Then he became seeing again.”

What returns is the condition of sight.

At-Tin 95:5 likewise has:

ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ

Thumma radadnāhu asfala sāfilīna.

“Then We returned him to the lowest of the low.”

رددنا (radadnā) itself expresses only returning or bringing someone to a condition. The precise referent of أسفل سافلين (asfal sāfilīn) must be examined within the surah’s context; it does not follow from R D D itself.

7. Being returned to The God

Several verses say that human beings:

تُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ

Turaddūna ilā ʿālimi l-ghaybi wa-sh-shahādati.

“Are returned to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed.”

At-Tawbah 9:94 and At-Tawbah 9:105; Al-Jumuah 62:8

Or:

ثُمَّ رُدُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ مَوْلَاهُمُ الْحَقِّ

Thumma ruddū ilā llāhi mawlāhumu l-ḥaqqi.

“Then they were returned to The God, their true Protector.”

Al-Anam 6:62

This construction should not be defined as bodily movement from a point in the world toward a location occupied by The God. The root’s language is that of returning, but the context of the Hereafter, judgment, knowledge, and divine guardianship determines the nature of the return.

Just as علم الساعة (ʿilm al-sāʿah) in Fussilat 41:47 is referred back to The God without knowledge being a moving physical object, the return of human beings to The God must be understood through its context in the Hereafter, not through a physical image of the root.

8. ارْتَدَّ (irtadda): returning oneself, not the fixed technical sense of “apostate”

The Form VIII verb ارْتَدَّ (irtadda) occurs eight times in the Qur’an. Only some of these concern religion.

In Al-Baqarah 2:217:

وَمَنْ يَرْتَدِدْ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ

Wa-man yartadid minkum ʿan dīnihi.

“And whoever among you turns back from his religion.”

And in Al-Maidah 5:54:

مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ

Man yartadda minkum ʿan dīnihi.

“Whoever among you turns back from his religion.”

Here the qualification عن دينه (ʿan dīnihi) specifies that the return in question is turning away from religion.

Muhammad 47:25 also has:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ ارْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِهِمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الْهُدَى

Inna lladhīna rtaddū ʿalā adbārihim min baʿdi mā tabayyana lahumu l-hudā.

“Those who turned back on their heels after guidance had become clear to them.”

The context of guidance and turning backward establishes the same religious direction.

The other five uses, however, show that irtadda is not inherently a religious technical term.

Concerning Jacob:

فَارْتَدَّ بَصِيرًا

Fa-rtadda baṣīran.

“Then he became seeing again.”

Yusuf 12:96

Concerning Moses and his companion:

فَارْتَدَّا عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمَا قَصَصًا

Fa-rtaddā ʿalā āthārihimā qaṣaṣan.

“So the two returned, retracing their footsteps.”

Al-Kahf 18:64

Concerning the eye:

قَبْلَ أَنْ يَرْتَدَّ إِلَيْكَ طَرْفُكَ

Qabla an yartadda ilayka ṭarfuka.

“Before your glance returns to you.”

An-Naml 27:40

And:

لَا يَرْتَدُّ إِلَيْهِمْ طَرْفُهُمْ

Lā yartaddu ilayhim ṭarfuhum.

“Their glance does not return to them.”

Ibrahim 14:43

Al-Maidah 5:21 also has:

وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ

Wa-lā tartaddū ʿalā adbārikum.

“And do not turn back on your heels.”

as another use of the same verb.

Poetry attributed to Zuhayr likewise uses فارتدوا لما تركوا (fa-rtaddū li-mā tarakū) for ordinary returning before Islamic technical usages.

The later terms الرِّدّة (al-riddah) and المرتد (al-murtadd) in Islamic law and history should therefore not be read back into every Qur’anic use of irtadda. Neither the noun riddah nor the noun murtadd occurs in the Qur’an at all.

The Qur’anic basic meaning is returning or turning back. It concerns leaving religion only when the complement ʿan dīnihi, or a context of guidance and kufr, establishes that direction.

9. يَتَرَدَّدُونَ (yataraddadūna): moving back and forth in doubt

The only occurrence of Form V appears in At-Tawbah 9:45:

وَارْتَابَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ فَهُمْ فِي رَيْبِهِمْ يَتَرَدَّدُونَ

Wa-rtābat qulūbuhum fa-hum fī raybihim yataraddadūna.

“Their hearts have fallen into doubt, and in their doubt they move back and forth.”

English may render taraddud as “hesitation” or “wavering,” but the Qur’anic construction preserves an interesting distinction:

ريب (rayb) describes the condition of doubt and uncertainty;
يترددون (yataraddadūna) describes their movement back and forth within that doubt.

The meaning “doubt” therefore does not come from R D D itself. The root supplies the image of repeated movement this way and that without settling on a direction, while ريبهم (raybihim) identifies doubt as the field in which this wavering occurs. The Qur’an uses this form only once.

10. رَدّ (radd), رَادّ (rādd), and مَرْدُود (mardūd)

The verbal noun radd occurs twice in the Qur’an.

In Al-Baqarah 2:228:

وَبُعُولَتُهُنَّ أَحَقُّ بِرَدِّهِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ

Wa-buʿūlatuhunna aḥaqqu bi-raddihinna fī dhālika.

“Their husbands have a greater right to take them back during that period.”

The precise legal relationship and its conditions are determined by the whole verse; ردهن (raddihinna) itself means bringing them back.

In Al-Anbiya 21:40:

فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ رَدَّهَا

Fa-lā yastaṭīʿūna raddahā.

“They will be unable to turn it back.”

That is, they cannot turn it back or repel it.

The active participle رادّ (rādd) likewise retains both directions. In Yunus 10:107:

فَلَا رَادَّ لِفَضْلِهِ

Fa-lā rādda li-faḍlihi.

“None can turn back His bounty.”

In Al-Qasas 28:7:

إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ

Innā rāddūhu ilayki.

“We will return him to you.”

And in Al-Qasas 28:85:

لَرَادُّكَ إِلَىٰ مَعَادٍ

La-rādduka ilā maʿādin.

“He will surely return you to a place of return.”

An-Nahl 16:71 contains the plural of this same active participle:

فَمَا الَّذِينَ فُضِّلُوا بِرَادِّي رِزْقِهِمْ

Fa-mā lladhīna fuḍḍilū bi-rāddī rizqihim.

“Those who have been favored do not hand back their provision.”

Syntactically, rāddī is the plural of rādd, not an independent word. The precise nature of رد رزق (radd rizq) in this construction must be understood from the entire verse. An economic or social theory should not be extracted from the root alone.

Mardūd also appears in Hud 11:76 concerning something that will not be repelled:

عَذَابٌ غَيْرُ مَرْدُودٍ

ʿAdhābun ghayru mardūdin.

“A punishment not to be turned back.”

But in An-Naziat 79:10:

أَإِنَّا لَمَرْدُودُونَ فِي الْحَافِرَةِ

A-innā la-mardūdūna fī l-ḥāfirati.

“Are we really to be returned to the former state?”

It means, “Will we be brought back…?” The exact meaning of الحافرة (al-ḥāfirah) is a separate question; mardūdūn itself expresses only being returned.

11. مَرَدّ (maradd): return or the possibility of turning back

Maradd occurs six times in the Qur’an, with uses pointing in two closely related directions.

In Ghafir 40:43:

وَأَنَّ مَرَدَّنَا إِلَى اللَّهِ

Wa-anna maraddanā ilā llāhi.

“And our return is to The God.”

In Ash-Shura 42:44:

هَلْ إِلَىٰ مَرَدٍّ مِنْ سَبِيلٍ

Hal ilā maraddin min sabīlin.

“Is there any way to return?”

And in Maryam 19:76:

خَيْرٌ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ مَرَدًّا

Khayrun thawāban wa-khayrun maraddan.

“Better in reward and better in return.”

In these cases, maradd approaches return, the outcome of return, or a way of returning.

But in Ar-Rad 13:11:

فَلَا مَرَدَّ لَهُ

Fa-lā maradda lahu.

“Then there is no turning it back.”

And in Ar-Rum 30:43 and Ash-Shura 42:47:

يَوْمٌ لَا مَرَدَّ لَهُ

Yawmun lā maradda lahu.

“A day that cannot be turned back.”

The same form concerns something that cannot be turned back, or the absence of a way to repel it or reverse its course.

Maradd should therefore not automatically be translated “place of return” in every verse. The sentence determines whether the subject is returning or the possibility of turning back and repelling.

12. R D D (radad) compared with R J AYN (rajaʿa): bringing back and returning

The root ر ج ع (R J AYN; R J ʿ) is also one of the largest Qur’anic families for return, occurring 104 times.

The roots overlap extensively, and no absolute barrier can be drawn between them. Nevertheless, an important tendency appears in Qur’anic usage.

R J AYN is used very naturally for the subject who themselves returns:

إِذَا رَجَعْتُمْ

Idhā rajaʿtum.

“When you return.”

Al-Baqarah 2:196

Or:

فَهُمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ

Fa-hum lā yarjiʿūna.

“So they do not return.”

Al-Baqarah 2:18

By contrast, رَدَّ (radda) is very often transitive: a subject turns back someone or something else:

فَرَدَدْنَاهُ إِلَىٰ أُمِّهِ

Fa-radadnāhu ilā ummihi.

“So We returned him to his mother.”

Or:

رُدَّتْ إِلَيْنَا

Ruddat ilaynā.

“It was returned to us.”

The same relationship remains in the passive construction: someone is returned.

This distinction is not absolute, however. Arabic and the Qur’an use both families in closely related constructions, and the passive ترجعون (turjaʿūna) also expresses being returned.

The cautious distinction is therefore:

R J AYN more often highlights the movement of returning itself;
R D D more often highlights bringing back, sending back, or changing something’s direction.

This is a tendency of usage, not a rule without exceptions.

13. R D D (radad) compared with AYN W D (ʿawad): bringing back and doing again

In Al-Anam 6:28, the Qur’an uses both roots in one sentence:

وَلَوْ رُدُّوا لَعَادُوا لِمَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ

Wa-law ruddū la-ʿādū li-mā nuhū ʿanhu.

“And if they were returned, they would again go back to what they had been forbidden.”

This is one of the best witnesses to the difference in tendency between the two families.

رُدُّوا (ruddū): they are brought back to an earlier situation or opportunity;
لَعَادُوا (la-ʿādū): they themselves resume their earlier behavior.

The root ع و د (AYN W D; ʿ W D) is used for returning after a beginning and for repeating something. In the Qur’an, يبدأ الخلق ثم يعيده (yabdaʾu al-khalqa thumma yuʿīduhu) repeatedly places the beginning and repetition of creation together.

The tendency can therefore be understood as:

R D D: returning someone or something to an earlier direction or condition;
AYN W D: going back again to an earlier action or condition and repeating it.

Again, this is not an absolute boundary, but Al-Anam 6:28 shows that the Qur’an can use both in one sentence for two different stages.

14. The term irtidād in later periods

In theological, legal, and historical literature after the Qur’an, riddah and irtidād became technical names for leaving Islam after accepting it, while murtadd became the designation of someone who did so.

This terminology is not unrelated to the Qur’anic use يرتدد عن دينه (yartadid ʿan dīnihi), but its later technical meaning should not be imposed on the verb itself.

The Qur’an uses irtadda concerning:

turning away from religion,
retracing footsteps,
the return of sight,
the return of a glance,
and turning backward

in its different contexts.

The lexical meaning of irtadda thus remains returning and turning back. A phrase such as عن دينه (ʿan dīnihi) or a context of guidance and kufr establishes its religious application.

This distinction prevents every Qur’anic use of irtadda from automatically being read through all the later legal rulings and definitions attached to murtadd.

Translation guidance

Within this family, the English equivalent should be chosen according to the direction of the sentence.

رَدَّ الشيء (radda al-shayʾa) usually means “returned,” “turned back,” or “sent back” the thing.

When something approaching is repelled, “repelled” or “turned back” is more natural:

لَا يُرَدُّ بَأْسُهُ

Lā yuraddu baʾsuhu.

“His punishment or might cannot be repelled.”

When a statement or claim is not accepted, “reject” is appropriate, but this secondary meaning should be understood as arising from the same act of sending back.

رَدَّهُ إِلَى (raddahu ilā) may mean “returned him to…” or, concerning a matter or report, “referred it to…,” according to context.

ارْتَدَّ (irtadda) fundamentally means “returned,” “turned back,” or “reverted to an earlier state.” Only in a context such as ʿan dīnihi can it be translated “turned away from his religion.” “Became an apostate” should not be the automatic equivalent everywhere.

تَرَدَّدَ (taraddada) in At-Tawbah 9:45 expresses movement back and forth and instability within doubt. “Waver in doubt” is natural English, but the root’s explanation should preserve the movement back and forth.

مَرَدّ (maradd) may mean “return,” “a way of return,” or “the possibility of repelling or turning back,” depending on the sentence.

رَادّ (rādd) is “one who returns something,” or, in a context of repelling, “one who repels.”

مَرْدُود (mardūd) is “returned,” or “repelled” concerning something turned away.

Conclusion

The root ر د د (R D D) fundamentally concerns returning something and changing its direction backward, toward an authority, or toward an earlier condition. Ibn Fāris defines it through رجع الشيء (rajʿ al-shayʾ), while pre-Islamic poetry also shows radd and irtadda in ordinary uses of bringing back and returning.

This core produces several Qur’anic branches. Goods are returned to their owner; Moses is returned to his mother; a greeting is answered; a disputed matter is referred back to its authority; and an attack or punishment may be repelled and turned back. Rejecting in the sense of refusing is also understandable within this field: what is not accepted is sent back in the opposite direction.

The form irtadda fundamentally preserves the same return. The Qur’an uses it both for turning away from religion and for the return of a glance, sight, and footsteps. The later technical term irtidād has therefore fixed only one application of this family and should not become the root’s basic definition.

Taraddud provides another instance of the same image: repeated movement back and forth. In At-Tawbah 9:45, doubt comes from ريب (rayb), while يترددون (yataraddadūna) expresses their instability and movement within that doubt.

The derivative maradd likewise retains the root’s field. Sometimes it means return and the outcome of return, as in مردنا إلى الله (maraddunā ilā Allāh); sometimes it concerns the absence of any possibility of turning back, as in لا مرد له (lā maradda lahu). The sentence determines the precise meaning.

Comparison with the two nearby roots further clarifies the boundaries. R J AYN more often highlights the movement of return itself, while R D D strongly tends toward returning another or reversing something’s direction. AYN W D more often concerns returning again or repeating an earlier state or action. Al-Anam 6:28 shows this difference in one sentence: ولو ردوا لعادوا (wa-law ruddū la-ʿādū). First they are returned to the earlier situation; then they themselves resume their former conduct.

A cautious synthesis of this root is:

R D D: a family centered on returning something and turning its direction backward, toward an authority, or toward an earlier condition. From this core arise giving back, repelling, refusing, referring, returning, wavering, and the religious use of turning away from religion. Rejection and irtidād are only two branches of this field and should not replace the definition of the whole root.